Container for liquefied gases



April 22, 1952 P. F. wlNTr-:RNrrz 2 CONTAINER FOR LIQUEFIED GASES Filed NOV. l5. 1949 'INVENTOR @M1 1+'. WMWC Patented Apr. 22, 1952 CONTAINER FOR LIQUEFIED GASES Paul F. Winternitz, New York, N. Y., assignor to Reaction Motors, Inc., Rockaway, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 15, 1949, Serial No. 127,423

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a container or tank for the storage of a liquied gas or other highly volatile liquid. t relates more particularly to a storage tank of this type which is, at the same time, portable and useful for shipping purposes. An object of this invention is to provide a means of keeping compounds, which are unstable at normal temperatures, at the low temperature of their boiling point where they are stable without the necessity of refrigerating the whole container as is the present practice.

Another object of this invention is to maintain mixtures of liquied gases at a desired composition. Binary mixtures will on evaporation.

become richer in the component having the higher boiling point and, in many cases, one of the components, when it becomes suiiiciently rich, will become highly unstable or even ex= plosive. Mixtures of liquid acetylene and liquid nitrogen or of liquid oxygen and liquid ozone are examples of this. In the latter case for instance it is desirable to maintain the ozone content at about 25% by Weight because mixtures containing a greater percentage of ozone are` highly explosive. On standing in a conventional? container, vacuum bottle type or otherwise,

4oxygen will evaporate rapidly and the danger limit for the ozone content will be exceeded in a very short period of time. ithas not been possible to store these mixtures in conventional containers. The present invention solves this problem by keeping the composition of the liquid unchanged by reuxing the boil oil? in the manner described in this` specication. i

Another object of this invention is to provide a useful means for permanent storage of low boilingpoint liquids such as N204 which has a boiling point of l 21.3 degrees centigrade. liquids now have to be shipped and stored in heavy steel cylinders because ordinary steel .drums 4will not stand a pressure of 100 to 150 pounds per square inch which may easily be .brought about by summer or tropical temperaw- For this reason,

Such

from escaping vapors and the danger from escaping poisonous fumes by automatically condensing the vapors as they arise into achilled neck and returning them as liquid to the container through the same neck and without exposure to the atmosphere. 'r

A further object is to provide a shipping container for liquiiied gases, such as ethane, ammonia and others, of strong, lightweight and economical construction which can be used as a storage vessel without modication.

The present invention meets the requirements of the objects set forth above principally through the use of a refrigerating chamber about the narrow neck of a tank which contains a liquiiied gas or other volatile liquid, the purpose of, this refrigeration of the neck being to chill anyyapors arising from the liquid so that they are caused to condense. Because of this atleet/and the thermal insulation provided for the tank, the pressure created Within the entire container is so small that a very lightweight and easily portable structure can be utilized having obvious advantages over conventional heavy high pres- Q. sure cylinders not having the reluxingfeature.

Also, the very important proper compositioneof binary compounds is maintained bythese same features as previously pointed out, and expensive and dangerous loss of vapors is prevented since the vessel is closed to the atmosphere except While fllling or emptying.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims'and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle-of the invention and the best mode, which hasbeen contemplated, of applying that principle. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation through the container. i i

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation through'a plurality of containers utilizing a common refrigerating chamber.

In Figure 1, a duid-tight spherical tank I of formed thin metal, suchas stainless steel, which has a high tensile strength and a low coefficient of thermal conductivity as Well as good resistance to corrosion, serves as a container for the liquied gas. A relatively long tubular neck 2 of the same material is welded to tank l, communicates with it, and extends vertically upward therefrom. At the top end of neck 2 is a hand valve 3 to allow for filling oremptying of tank i, and a safety rupture disc 4 to allow for relief of pressure within the container in the event that it should become excessive for any reason such as overheating of the iiuid.

Surrounding tank I is a spherical jacket 5 formed of the same material as tank I but of larger diameter and spaced from tank. I by means of cork pads V6. A tubular jacket fl of larger diameter thany neck 2 and concentric with it is welded to jacket 5, surroundsneck 2 for a portion of its length, and communicates Vat its lower end with the space between the walls of tank I and jacket 5.

About the exposed end of neck 2 is a chamber 8 havingV double walls, the inner wall 9 and the outer wall I0. The bottom ofz chamber Bis also double, the space between bottoms II and I2 communicating with that between walls 9 and I and that between neck` 2- and its jacket The upperperiphery of chamber 8 has a ring I3 welded to it to seal ofi the space between walls 9 and I0 and a wooden cover I4 is provided to close the top of chamber 8. Since all of the welded' joints between the various members are airtightQthe space between the double walls of tank I, the double walls of a portion of` neck 2, and the double walls of chamber 3 can be evacuated of air.l This is done in the present invention in order to' create an eiective thermal'n- 'Vsulatlon for those parts.

About the entire vessel is an cuter protective housing which serves as both further thermal insulation and a physical protection. This housing is composed of a flat bottom I5, a cylinder It, a 4frusto--conical'Y portion. I'I, a smaller diameter cylinder i8, anda ring-like top I9. All Voi these parts 'are of thinmetal welded together in the :manner-shown with` airtight joints so that all of lthe space enclosed will be a dead air space and 4will thusaffordv additional thermal insulation, 'and-,yet this. outer yhousing will be a strong physin cal protection for the vessel contained within it. Cork pads such as number 20 are provided to support jacket 5 and to space it apartirom bottom I5'and cylinder iii. Pads 2li` being resilient cork also serve to absorb handling shocks which might otherwise bie transmitted to jacket 5- and t-husto tank I.

To use the vessel, it is necessary only to` iill refrigerating chamber 8 with solidified carbon dioxide, for example, commonly known as dry ice,y or Yany suitableY refrigerant depending on the boiling point. of. the liquid to be stored, re place wooden cover; I4, which is split on its diameter; toA allow removal and replacement, fillY tank tto the lower endl of: neck 2- with the liquiiied gas, or other volatile, fluidto be stored or shipped, and then close hand valve 3. Neck 2l will thus be chilled and any vapors which may arise from the fluid in tank l will pass into neck 2 where they will contact its cold wall thus loweringv the temperature of the vapors to the point where `they condense to a liquid and owunder the force oi` gravity back; through neck 2, into tank l.

As the condensate ows downward through neck 2, a heat exchange occurs between the condensate .liquid andvapors which may be rising into neck 2. resulting in a cooling effecten the vapors and thus making them more4 easily condensed when they reach. the chilled portion of the neck. Also, as the cold condensate drops into the liquid` conoperation indefinitely. Although a cold material is shown in chamber 8, vit is possible to use refrigerating coils or other meansl of cooling neck 2.

In Figure 2 is shown an arrangement whereby agroup of containers is arranged in such a manner that a common refrigerating chamber can be used. Vessels 2l, 22, and 23 are arranged in a row with their necks 2li, 25 and 26, respectively, extending upward through rectangular chamber 21 which is lled with Dry Ice 28, some other cold material, or refrigerating coils. It is conceivabie, also, that containers might be grouped in other geometrical arrangements such as a square, triangle or circle if desirable for convenient shipping and storage' of the vessels'.KV

It has been found feasible to 'ship and store liquid ozone in a vessel of thetype. represented by the present invention by lling therefrigerating chamber with a Very cold substance suchV as liquid nitrogen'.

While there have been shown'and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modifica,- tion, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the formv and details of the device illustrated andY in its operation may be made by those skilled in the. art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore` to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is: j

A portable shipping and storage container for liquified gases cornprisinga thermally insulated fluid tight vessel, a slender metallic and thin walled .single neck communicating with said ves.- sel at one end only and extending upward therefrom, valve means for closing the upper end of said neck, and a thermally insulatedI cooling chamber integral with said'container surrounding at least a portion of said neck whereby said neck is chilled and vapors passing upward into said neck will condense upon coming in contact withl the chilled innerl surface of said neck and with condensed fluid on'the interior of said neck and will then flow as liquid downward through the said neck into thesaid vessek FAUL F. WXNTERNITZ.

REFEBENCS orrnnV The following references are of record in the iile of this patent:4

UNITED STATES' PATENTS Number Name Date `$445,459 Place Apr. 3, 1900 932,848 Niebling n.. Jan. 3l,` 19,11

1,808,613 Trezise K i J'une 2, 1931 1,975,863 Schlumbohm Oct. 9, 1934 2,075,408 Sholes Mar. 30, 19,37 2,103,678 Kline et al. Dec. 28, 193,7 2,142,828 VSmith 1 Jan.. 3, 1939 

